A 48-year-old doctor from Salt Lake was allegedly cheated out of more than ₹21 lakh after being duped by two separate online investment scams. Both schemes promised high returns in stock trading but turned out to be fraudulent.
The fraud began in August when the doctor was added to a WhatsApp group named Chaitanya Alpha Circle63. The group claimed association with a reputed stock trading platform, a police officer said.
“Trusting the group’s authenticity, the doctor invested ₹14.5 lakh in an alleged Initial Public Offering (IPO) to purchase shares in a private company. Later, she found out the IPO and company details were fake,” said an investigating officer.
In September, the doctor was contacted by a caller posing as a senior official from a company named “Quanta Pulse Pvt Ltd, UK,” which claimed to be a UK-based
international stock trading firm.
Persuaded by this call, she invested an additional ₹6.8 lakh via a specific website linked to the company.
“She was convinced to invest through both channels. Initially, she did not realise that both platforms were connected and that she was being duped. It was only two months later, in October, that she realised she had fallen victim to a scam,” said an officer of Bidhannagar City Police.
According to the complaint lodged with Bidhannagar police, the doctor, a resident of Salt Lake CF Block, reported the incident after uncovering the fraud.
Police officers suspect the two scams were orchestrated by the same group, targeting her as a “vulnerable” investor willing to invest in stock trading.
“The complainant was approached by separate but related fraudulent schemes, which eventually led to a loss exceeding ₹21 lakh,” said an officer of Bidhannagar police.
No one had been arrested till Thursday evening.